


still not over you

by jasminetea



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Canon Character of Color, Canon Queer Character, Canon Queer Character of Color, Canon Queer Relationship, Communication, Community: theoldguardkinkmeme, Confident Nicky | Nicolo di Genova, Former Priest Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Nicky cracks a lot of jokes, POV Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani, Prompt Fill, Relationship Discussions, Resolved Pining, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 03:35:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29483070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jasminetea/pseuds/jasminetea
Summary: For this kink meme prompt:When Nicky announces he’s gay and leaving the church, Joe thinks now’s his chance! But before he can shoot his shot, Nicky starts sowing all of his wild oats.This is Joe and Nicky finally getting their act together. Because Joe’s been in love with Nicky forever, and Nicky, well… Nicky has something he needs to tell Joe too.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 24
Kudos: 168
Collections: Start Reading





	still not over you

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this prompt](https://theoldguardkinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/5194.html?thread=1742922#cmt1742922) on the kink meme. If you’d like this gifted to you OP, just lemme know!

Nicky’s stirring his risotto when he decides to assail Joe’s understanding of the past, agonizing six months.

“You know, I’m never getting over you.”

Joe continues sketching his cat Pancake who’s napping on the kitchen table. “Get over what? That I close the toilet lid? That I replace the last of the paper towels when I use it? Face it, Nicky, I’m the best roommate you’ve ever had.”

“You are,” Nicky nods. “And you are the most infuriating handsome man I’ve ever known.”

_Handsome?_ Joe’s brain whites out for a moment. He thought Nicky only noticed him in the cursory _Of course my best friend is beautiful and attractive!_ sort of way. He sets his pencil down. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Was I not clear?” He starts singing that Gavin DeGraw song that had been popular years ago, “ _Not over you-u-u?_ ”

“That’s a love song though!”

“Yes,” Nicky says very patiently, “It is.”

“You’re gonna have to break this one down for me, because haven’t you spent the last six month sowing wild oats?”

“Sowing wild oats? Really, Joe.”

“Okay fine, sleeping your way through town!” He quickly adds, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that! I just… am very confused how that is related to you … being… not being… me.”

“Two things can be true at once.”

“Okay, Pastor Nicky.”

Nicky rolls his eyes. “Behave or I’ll make _you_ stir the risotto. You really should get a second pot so we didn’t have to use the small one… Anyway, I guess I’m partly to blame. I let you think I was still sleeping around even though I stopped by the fourth month.”

“What?” Around the third month was when Quỳnh had gotten back with Andy and moved in with her, leaving Nicky without housing. Leading Nicky and Joe to becoming roommates.

“Well, I definitely slept around a lot at first, to make sure I was into it. Which, I was – don’t get me wrong, the sex was great! And then I was making up for lost time, and then it lost its appeal. I still went out, made out some, and then stopped doing that. I was hoping you’d… This is going to sound silly,” he sighs.

“Nicky.” Joe sets his pencil down, and turns to face Nicky limned in the afternoon light. The man had no right to look that fine while scrambling his brain.

“I was hoping you’d make a move, because I thought I’d been neatly slotted into the friend part of your life. And maybe if I made it very clear I was a sexual being, and very into men, you’d finally see me. Because while it was fun learning about what I liked and didn’t like, what I _really_ didn’t like was that none of them were you.”

Joe just gapes at Nicky, who is still patiently stirring the risotto. “...Why are we having this conversation with you so far away and stuck to the stove?”

Nicky waves the wooden spoon at him. “So I couldn’t try to convince you with my newfound sex skills.”

Joe starts coughing, and Nicky abandons the risotto to whack at Joe’s back.

“What about the risotto?” he rasps.

“Hang the risotto. Risotto’s cheap. You’re not.” Nicky rubs circles on his back and looks at him with concern. “Besides, I can always do risotto in the InstantPot.” Joe gives him the eye.

After Joe catches his breath, and takes a sip of water, he notices Nicky’s still rubbing circles on his back. And he shouldn’t find the firm touch as erotic as it is, but now that he’s noticed it, those are awfully wide circles, going from his traps to his lats and coming very close to his ass.

“Are you… caressing me?”

“Yes.”

“What happened to not using your sex ninja skills on me?”

“Joe, I assure you this is not a secret sex technique, just well-founded curiosity.”

Joe catches his wrist on the next pass, and then presses a kiss to his palm. “I already know you’re wickedly smart and funny Nicky, but I’ve been half-in-love with you since before you came out, so be honest with me. You said none of them were me, so what is it exactly that you want with me?” He lets Nicky go, but he takes it as an invitation to sit in Joe’s lap.

Throwing his arms over Joe’s shoulder, Nicky searches his gaze. “You did a good job of hiding it.”

“I didn’t know you were into men, and you were a priest! You were the definition of unavailable, and it felt wrong to say, ‘Hey, I know you took your vows, and you take your promises seriously, but how about you throw them away on the off chance you think me and you will be good?’ Like, who wants to compete with Jesus?”

Nicky chuckles. “Joe, I assure you, you’re more handsome than the pictures of Jesus I grew up with.”

“Thanks? I’m not sure if that’s blasphemous or not.” Nicky’s face lights up the way it does when he has a racy sex tale about the topic at hand, and Joe’s mouth hangs open. “Oh, Nicky, you did _not_ buy a Jesus dildo. ...Did you?”

“Well, like I said, none of them were you.” Joe starts laughing hard, pressing his forehead into Nicky’s shoulder. “But the answer to your question Joe is that I want to be more than just your childhood best friend or your current roomie, more than friends with benefits. I want to be the first person on your emergency contact and the first person you call with good news.”

“That sounds a lot like a serious relationship.”

“That wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been accused of being serious. But Joe, I know _you’re_ the one who takes the matters of their heart seriously.” And it’s true, there’s a reason even his hookups have been with dear friends who stayed dear even after. “I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t sure.”

Joe wraps his arms tightly around Nicky’s waist. “You impossible man. You owe me at least four months worth of kisses.”

“That could be a fun game,” Nicky muses, and Joe’s brain turns into static yet again, imagining what _that_ could mean. But then Nicky leans down and tenderly kisses Joe’s head. “Shall we start now?”

Joe lifts his face, and murmurs his answer against Nicky’s lips. “I think you owe me interest too.”

“Oh, I like the way you think Mr. al-Kaysani.”

As it turns out, they also owe each other years worth of endearments, pleading, and one another’s names upon the other’s lips.

* * *

Once they are both spent, they still can’t stop touching each other or laughing. It’s disgustingly adorable, and exactly what Joe has longed for in the well-kept parts of his heart.

Nicky rolls onto his side to gaze at Joe. Staring into his eyes like this, so close, without shame or hiding, is even better than he dreamt.

“Well, I guess the church was right about one thing,” Nicky says, after he catches his breath. “It really is better with someone you love.”

“ _Nicky!_ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment!


End file.
